


Sometimes Love is Found in Unexpected Places

by Rikkapikasnikka



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Identity Reveal, Miraculous World: New York United Heroez, New York City, Spoilers, TV Special: Miraculous World: New York, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26660725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikkapikasnikka/pseuds/Rikkapikasnikka
Summary: Miraculous World: New York, United Heroez SPOILERS!|| When Jess and Aeon introduce supervillain Solitude to Adrien and Marinette, their intentions are to force a confession. The consequences are much different. ||
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg
Comments: 36
Kudos: 164





	Sometimes Love is Found in Unexpected Places

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missnoodles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missnoodles/gifts).



> I totally just spat this out in a couple of hours, have fun.  
> Idea was Noodles' so I'm gifting it to her.

_“I am Solitude!”_

Marinette had no idea what was happening.

First of all, she didn’t believe that Alya had forgotten to take a picture of the sabre. The moment Adrien had shown up, Marinette had known it had all been a clever rouse of some kind, sorted out between Nino and his reporter girlfriend. 

Secondly, Marinette wasn’t sure what excuse they had fed Adrien to get him to backtrack, but right now, he was looking panicked. The second the doors had slammed shut, he’d been trying to leave the room as quickly as possible. Was he feeling trapped, like she was? Or was he that desperate to get away from her?

Thirdly, an Akumatised victim was rampaging around Paris, and Marinette had no idea if Chat Noir was on the scene, for the toy in her purse wasn’t moving yet. An Akumatised victim that, according to Adrien and confirmed by Marinette’s memory, had no possible way of being _in_ Paris, because Markov the robot was with Max--who was here, in America.

And then, the lights had gone out.

_“And I am here to take captive those who are loved by no one!”_

Solitude was a translucent mass, smokey with an odd glow, and if he wore a suit, it was moulded perfectly to his body. His eyes were glowing like white fire, one of his hands was a giant claw and the other was tipped with sharp nails, and his voice rang with authority. He was staring right at them, and Marinette stood in front of Adrien as the villain aimed his weapon at her classmate. Adrien was still trying to push against the locked door, but it refused to budge.

_“You are unloved. You will come with me!”_

“Marinette, move!”

Adrien tackled her, and Marinette grunted as they rolled, her head cradled in his hands. They came to a stop on the other side of the room, the villain’s claw embedded in the ground where they had just been. Adrien picked himself off of her, flung his arms out and stood in front of her, but Marinette was too busy looking for a way out to linger on the fact that Adrien’s body had just been on top of hers.

She needed to find an unlocked door, a vent, a place to hide, _something_ so she could transform! Once she was Ladybug, Marinette would be able to defeat the villain and protect Adrien. She couldn’t do that as a civilian!

Adrien, however, was trembling. She hadn’t picked up on it before, but now that she was looking up at him and could see the full length of his body, Marinette could see the shaking of his fingers, the twitching of his muscles, the quivering of his jaw…

“You’ll leave her alone?” Adrien asked Solitude in a low voice, and the villain hesitated.

_“Only those who aren’t loved are taken. She will remain, since you’ve shown her love.”_

Marinette’s mind blanked. It blanked hard, and she lingered there on the ground, unable to form words as Adrien stood his ground against the ethereal villain, the tips of the giant claw gleaming in the glow of Solitude’s eyes. She tried to push herself up, tried to reach for her purse to make sure it was closed, but as the villain stretched his arm out to grab Adrien, Marinette couldn’t find her voice. 

She wanted to yell, to scream, to confess--but she could only choke as the long, sharp edges of the villain’s weapon came closer and closer to Adrien’s chest.

“STOP!”

Marinette blinked and air rushed into her lungs in relief. Solitude stopped, his eyes squinting and dimming the room’s only light source, as something small, black, and furry darted into the open space. It had a high, nasally voice--a voice Marinette had only heard a few times before. And as she watched the Kwami try to defend his holder, Marinette’s mind started putting together the puzzle pieces she had always desperately avoided.

 _“I_ love him,” Plagg declared. “So you can’t have him!”

* * *

_“And I am here to take captive those who are loved by no one!”_

When Solitude announced his intentions, Adrien knew the villain was talking about him. 

It was a bitter taste in his mouth, but Adrien had long since suspected that his father had lost all affection for his son, especially following Émilie’s disappearance. And after his cousin’s visit over the summer, Adrien had noticed that Félix’s actions had caused irreparable damage between Adrien and his new friends. Chloé had never seemed to _actually_ like him, Nathalie and the Gorilla probably just considered him another part of their job, and Ladybug…

Well, he knew what her stance was, didn’t he?

And even if Ladybug’s love _did_ count, it probably counted towards Chat Noir--not civilian, boring, unloved Adrien Agreste. 

Adrien bit his lip, but his eyes caught the twitch of the villain’s arm that meant he was going in for an attack.

_“You are unloved. You will come with me!”_

“Marinette, move!” Adrien shouted, but before he could really think about it, Adrien had tackled her, protected her head as best he could, and rolled them to the other side of the room. If Solitude was really here to take Adrien away, he wasn’t going to let the villain take his first friend too.

And there was the other piece of evidence: Everyone _loved_ Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She had kind parents with big hearts, friends in abundance that she helped on the daily, and a boy back home that was head over heels for her. Between the two of them, it was obvious who Solitude was here to kidnap.

Adrien couldn’t help but wonder why as he stood in front of his friend to protect her. What would the villain do with him? Kill him? But what was the point in that? Maybe kidnap him and hold Adrien for ransom? Gabriel would probably pay a hefty sum to ensure his son’s safe return, but that brought no comfort to Adrien’s worries. Maybe Solitude wanted to put Adrien _in_ solitude? Adrien would’ve snorted at the irony of that if he wasn’t shaking so badly.

Oh. He was shaking. Adrien could see the trembling of his fingers and convulsing of his elbows out of his peripheral vision. His body itself had gone almost numb, and Adrien had no idea what he was going to do. If he could find a way out (was that door on the other side of the room unlocked?), maybe he could transform into Chat Noir, distract the villain, and save Marinette?

Would he have to?

“You’ll leave her alone?” Adrien asked, sounding braver than he felt.

_“Only those who aren’t loved are taken. She will remain, since you’ve shown her love.”_

Adrien swallowed thickly at the villain’s answer.

 _Take me, then,_ Adrien thought. His heart felt heavy in his chest, as weighty as a dense stone, but his resolve was just as solid. As Solitude reached for Adrien, he bit down on his tongue and stood his ground, prepared to be whisked away and never see his friends, his home, his Lady...ever again.

“STOP!”

Adrien’s eyes snapped open. From his shirt, Plagg had zoomed out to float in front of him, his own arms thrown open in a protective gesture. Adrien stared at the black cat Kwami, his mind oddly simultaneously frozen and spinning a dozen records a second. _Plagg, hide!_

But Plagg wasn’t hiding.

 _“I_ love him,” Plagg declared. “So you can’t have him!”

Shock and warmth both bloomed in Adrien’s chest, and he breathed in deep.

How had Adrien forgotten about Plagg? He vowed to get his Kwami more cheese before they returned home.

The supervillain was stuck. He seemed torn between uncertainty and resolution. After a long stretch of time, where the seconds ticked by slowly and Adrien hoped Marinette wasn’t drawing the correct conclusions about Plagg’s existence, Solitude dropped his weapon.

_“Then I’ll leave you be.”_

And just like that, Solitude disappeared and the lights flickered back on. Adrien dropped his arms, Plagg darted back into the folds of Adrien’s shirt, and Marinette was sitting up, her legs splayed around her. Adrien collapsed beside her, his heart fluttering in his chest like a bird.

“That was terrifying,” Adrien mumbled, still just trying to breathe.

“Y-You-- Y-You’re--!”

Adrien grimaced and looked at Marinette. She was staring at him with eyes so wide, her pupils looked like pin-pricks. She was pointing at him, her lips pressed closed, but occasionally, she let more babbling loose.

“You’re a cat… Adricat… Chat Noir!” Marinette finally managed, and Adrien groaned aloud. She lowered her accusatory finger.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, but Adrien shrugged it off.

“Not your fault.” He had no idea if that would placate her or not. Instead, Adrien slowly moved Plagg from his shirt to the outside, scratching under his chin. “Really, Plagg?” Adrien asked softly.

“Don’t ask me to get sappy again, kid,” Plagg grumbled, but the effect was lessened by his quiet purrs. “I wasn’t gonna let _anyone_ take you away. Unloved my--”

“Why are you in New York?” Marinette interrupted, staring at Adrien and glaring at the tiny Kwami. Plagg seemed to deflate under her gaze. “What about that Akuma attack in Paris?!”

“I--” Adrien started speaking before cutting himself off. “I can’t tell you that, Marinette.”

“Ooh, yes you will, _chaton!” s_ he barked, reaching out and pulling his ear as Adrien spluttered. “I asked you to stay behind and watch over the city for me!”

Adrien floundered as he was forced to lean over, his eyes going wider than when Plagg had darted out. “You _asked…?”_

“Yes!” Marinette huffed, letting go of him and crossing her arms. “I trusted you to watch over the city!”

Adrien flinched, his own puzzle pieces coming together slowly but surely. He turned himself around and stared at her: bright blue eyes, dark hair like night, her cheeks as pink as plum blossoms…

But they weren’t quite coming together, and he wondered why.

“Marinette,” came a small, high voice from Marinette’s side. Adrien started as a red Kwami poked her head out from the pink purse Marinette always carried with her. Right beside Tikki was the little black cat toy Ladybug had shown up a couple days ago on the Eiffel Tower. 

Oh. So _that’s_ why Ladybug was out of town.

And now Chat Noir was out of town too.

Oh, well, _shit._

“There’s an Akuma we have to take care of in Paris,” Tikki pressed, and Marinette pushed herself to her feet, her face set.

“Tikki’s right,” Marinette said, holding her hand out to Adrien. He stared at her fingers, small and pale and soft, before he took her hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. “We need to get to Paris.”

Adrien felt his face split into an aching grin, but he was still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened today.

“After you, Milady.”

Of course, that was when the ceiling decided to cave in, the lights flickered out, and Techno Pirate ruined all their plans.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come and join us on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord server!](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks)  
> We are a community of MLB fans who write, read, beta, collab, and even exchange fanfiction and fanart. We run events, Author AMAs, calendar prompts, writing and art sprints, and we even have a book club for fanfics! We even stream episodes and the New York special! Come join over 500 amazing, supportive Ladybug and Chat Noir fans today!


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